Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Around 2000, the Late Leander Chastain sometimes came to our music practice sessions at my house. He was an old friend of Pap, Ray, and Robert Hampton (who played dobro with us at the time). Leander and Pap owned a small service station together, along with their friend Troy Phillips, back in the 60's. Leander was a preacher who knew the Bible very well. He didn't sing or make music, but he sat around and drank coffee while we practiced. One evening, he told a brief story about an experience he had at a church. He said two men were talking and that one said to the other, "Some people say that all you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and you're saved; but, I believe there's a whole lot more to it than that, don't you?" The other man agreed, then they turned to Leander and asked, "what do you think, brother?" Leander said he thought for a second then responded, "You're right. There is a whole lot more to it than that, and Jesus took care of it on the cross." The story of that encounter inspired me to write this simple, 2-chord song. Leander's experience did not surprise me. All my life, I've heard Christians try to add steps and requirements to salvation (beyond what is stated in the Bible). Pap told me that it was just human nature for people to try to make it how it would be if they were in charge, rather than God. He said they want to set up hurdles. While writing this song, I thought of other misguided explanations and perspectives on salvation that I had seen. Quite a few times, I had seen preachers or pastors seemingly forget that salvation is a personal thing between each individual and the Lord. I had seen them question a person's salvation because they didn't see what they considered to be the right amount of emotion on the part of the saved person. Those experiences inspired the line "your eyes need not shed tears." More times than that, I've seen preachers/pastors warn people in congregations not to come (to be saved) unless the "time was right" and they were sure God was calling them. On this topic, Pap quoted Jesus saying, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Pap told me to notice that this phrase is present tense, not conditional, and there's no "sometimes" involved (Rev. 3:20). Pap also pointed out that many people misquote Hebrews 3:15 by saying, "Today if you hear His voice," when the verse actually says, "Today, if you WILL hear His voice." Pap said the word "will" is critical and indicates that the Lord is calling people to salvation all the time, 24-7. Those thoughts and experiences inspired the line "anytime is the right time." Several times in my life, I've seen and heard about people being "unable" to get saved because something was stopping them. Once, at a church where we played, a pastor told a story about a lady trying to come to the alter to accept Christ but she couldn't because "a 50-foot devil" stood in the aisle and blocked her! That's pretty terrifying! I'm not saying that was a lie, but I sure don't understand why God would allow Satan so much free reign to stop one particular person when pretty much everyone else never had to contend with something so extreme. That experience/story inspired the line "and there's nothing that can stand in your way." Basically, I believe that anyone can be saved at any time they put their faith in the Lord and sincerely ask Him to save their souls. As I heard Doyle Dykes say recently on one of his Sunday String Alongs, "Anyone can be a 'whosoever.'" :-) This is one of only two gospel songs that I wrote. When I included it on the Shepherd of My Soul album, I pitched the song too low, which made it hard for Pap to get his part as well as he could have if it had been 2 or 3 frets higher. Instead of going into detail about what inspired the song, I put a simple note below the song title that said "Based on a sermon by Leander Chastain." The Chastain Family is one of the largest families in our area. I didn't think anyone would even notice the note that I added below the title, but I'm glad I put it there. Several members of the Chastain family have stopped me in public and asked me about how Leander inspired the song, and they said that they listen to it often. I can tell that it means a lot to them to know that Leander impacted us musically. Unfortunately, Leander had passed on to be with the Lord by the time I wrote the song and we had made the recording. I hope you enjoyed this original song. I hope I haven't offended anyone who might believe differently concerning salvation. I just wanted to explain my thinking and why I wrote the song. Here's a video of me singing the song with Pap, with Tipper on Bass: youtube.com/watch?v=UN-ee2Ouq3E
Original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Shepherd of My Soul:
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
Around 2000, the Late Leander Chastain sometimes came to our music practice sessions at my house. He was an old friend of Pap, Ray, and Robert Hampton (who played dobro with us at the time). Leander and Pap owned a small service station together, along with their friend Troy Phillips, back in the 60's. Leander was a preacher who knew the Bible very well. He didn't sing or make music, but he sat around and drank coffee while we practiced. One evening, he told a brief story about an experience he had at a church. He said two men were talking and that one said to the other, "Some people say that all you have to do is believe in your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and you're saved; but, I believe there's a whole lot more to it than that, don't you?" The other man agreed, then they turned to Leander and asked, "what do you think, brother?" Leander said he thought for a second then responded, "You're right. There is a whole lot more to it than that, and Jesus took care of it on the cross." The story of that encounter inspired me to write this simple, 2-chord song. Leander's experience did not surprise me. All my life, I've heard Christians try to add steps and requirements to salvation (beyond what is stated in the Bible). Pap told me that it was just human nature for people to try to make it how it would be if they were in charge, rather than God. He said they want to set up hurdles. While writing this song, I thought of other misguided explanations and perspectives on salvation that I had seen. Quite a few times, I had seen preachers or pastors seemingly forget that salvation is a personal thing between each individual and the Lord. I had seen them question a person's salvation because they didn't see what they considered to be the right amount of emotion on the part of the saved person. Those experiences inspired the line "your eyes need not shed tears." More times than that, I've seen preachers/pastors warn people in congregations not to come (to be saved) unless the "time was right" and they were sure God was calling them. On this topic, Pap quoted Jesus saying, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Pap told me to notice that this phrase is present tense, not conditional, and there's no "sometimes" involved (Rev. 3:20). Pap also pointed out that many people misquote Hebrews 3:15 by saying, "Today if you hear His voice," when the verse actually says, "Today, if you WILL hear His voice." Pap said the word "will" is critical and indicates that the Lord is calling people to salvation all the time, 24-7. Those thoughts and experiences inspired the line "anytime is the right time." Several times in my life, I've seen and heard about people being "unable" to get saved because something was stopping them. Once, at a church where we played, a pastor told a story about a lady trying to come to the alter to accept Christ but she couldn't because "a 50-foot devil" stood in the aisle and blocked her! That's pretty terrifying! I'm not saying that was a lie, but I sure don't understand why God would allow Satan so much free reign to stop one particular person when pretty much everyone else never had to contend with something so extreme. That experience/story inspired the line "and there's nothing that can stand in your way." Basically, I believe that anyone can be saved at any time they put their faith in the Lord and sincerely ask Him to save their souls. As I heard Doyle Dykes say recently on one of his Sunday String Alongs, "Anyone can be a 'whosoever.'" :-) This is one of only two gospel songs that I wrote. When I included it on the Shepherd of My Soul album, I pitched the song too low, which made it hard for Pap to get his part as well as he could have if it had been 2 or 3 frets higher. Instead of going into detail about what inspired the song, I put a simple note below the song title that said "Based on a sermon by Leander Chastain." The Chastain Family is one of the largest families in our area. I didn't think anyone would even notice the note that I added below the title, but I'm glad I put it there. Several members of the Chastain family have stopped me in public and asked me about how Leander inspired the song, and they said that they listen to it often. I can tell that it means a lot to them to know that Leander impacted us musically. Unfortunately, Leander had passed on to be with the Lord by the time I wrote the song and we had made the recording. I hope you enjoyed this original song. I hope I haven't offended anyone who might believe differently concerning salvation. I just wanted to explain my thinking and why I wrote the song. Here's a video of me singing the song with Pap, with Tipper on Bass: youtube.com/watch?v=UN-ee2Ouq3E
Original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Shepherd of My Soul:
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
